He instructed me to stop sowing spiritual seeds of truth in a person's life, and to move on. I knew the decisive moment had come by certain words spoken and by certain actions taken by this person. So, I shook the dust from my feet.

By shaking the dust from my spiritual feet the Lord was telling me to alter the status quo of this settled relationship. Shaking disturbs the equilibrium of a situation in order to accomplish a particular purpose in that person's life. To shake carries a further implication of additional work to be done, without me attached to the situation.

I had to shake off any residue from the relationship. I had to shake off the dust of this person's choices, the dust of stubbornness and hardness of heart. I was not to remain earth-bound to this person in any way.

Don't think for a moment that this business of shaking dust was without sorrow and grief, and courage. I've had to work hard to process my emotions and thoughts through the grid of scripture. I had faithfully sowed love and words of truth into this person's life for months, and now, where was any fruit from my labors? Yet it says in Hebrews 6:10 that God is not unjust to forget my work and labor of love. Nevertheless, surely God's kingdom has come near to this person and exposed the darkness. (Luke 10:11)

Closure finally came to me six months later when a pastor said, "God will use truth to speak to them till the day they die."

"And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them." (Mark 6:11)